October 13th rock climbing adventure in Snow Canyon State Park
Jen Evans, Daniel Noirot and Levi Pendleton led the trip for the Harry Reid Outdoor Engagement Center.
Helena Darger participated in the adventure despite never having been rock climbing before.
“It was a challenge, but I can’t wait for the next opportunity to do it again,” she said. “It was a great experience to test my trust in others.”
Noirot wanted to lead the trip to gain experience outdoors by taking beginners up a rock wall.
The vans left campus on Saturday morning, filled with participants, to the Black Rocks climbing area in Snow Canyon.
Black Rocks is comprised of basalt rock, which makes it different from climbing on the sandstone rocks found in most of southern Utah. Climbers don’t need to worry about their holds breaking on the basalt as much as with sandstone.
Noirot said sandstone is also unreliable after it has been rained on and hasn’t had sufficient time to dry. Black Rock was the perfect choice for rock climbing after the weather the day before.
Trip leaders Evans, Noirot and Pendleton set up several routes for the beginning to intermediate participants.
“We hiked about a quarter of a mile to what is called the Sunny-Side and set up some of the classic routes for everyone to play on,” Noirot said.
Climbing routes are given a rating based on difficulty. Any rating in the five range is considered traditional rock climbing and is then separated into difficulties by decimals.
The climbing routes varied from a 5.7 rating to 5.10.
Chelsea Howells said she found the trip to be a great way to get out of the house and meet new people.
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